E3 Prediction Week: Day Four

With the big three console manufacturers out of the way, the Game Informer seers turn their gaze toward exciting third party announcements, including the potential resurrection of Star Wars Battlefront 3, Batman: Arkham Asylum 2, and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

LucasArts Resurrects Star Wars Battlefront 3Free Radical, the developer initially attached to Star Wars: Battlefront 3, ran into problems in 2008 due to a lackluster response to Haze. The developer was pulled off to the Battlefront 3 project, and rumors swirling in the gamespace indicated that LucasArts may have handed development of this project off to another developer just weeks after it was yanked from Free Radical. Who this developer is remains a secret, but LucasArts always has a surprise or two at E3. Don't be surprised if it's Battlefront 3.Gearbox's Aliens Game Comes Out Of HibernationWay back in issue #179 (March 2008), Game Informer debuted the first info on Gearbox and Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines. Almost no new details have emerged on the game since. This is primarily due to Sega’s grabbing of Aliens vs. Predator shortly thereafter. Now that AvP was released into the wild earlier this year, E3 is the perfect time to bring Colonial Marines back to the forefront. Maybe we’ll see the awesome-looking Aliens DS game from Wayforward that was leaked on YouTube (and subsequently removed by Sega).

Activision And Bungie Tease New GameBungie and Activision
shocked the gaming world a few weeks ago with the announcement of their
upcoming partnership on a new franchise. At E3, there’s an excellent
chance that we’ll get a name of the first game accompanied by a mysterious teaser video to get us excited about the
possibilities. Alas, we’ll learn next to nothing about what the game
will really be about – mostly because it’s just not ready for primetime.

Warner Reveals Batman: Arkham Asylum SuccessorThe 2009 Spike Video Game Awards kicked off with an unexpected sneak peek at Batman: Arkham Asylum's successor. While only shown as a CG teaser, this satisfying trailer delivered the message "the asylyum has moved." The images clearly revealed that the new location would be Gotham. It's been six months since this announcement. Should an E3 appearance be expected? Fans and several GI staffers seem to think so. Our guess is that the same CG trailer will be shown at Warner's booth and during Microsoft's press conference. If any gameplay is shown it will likely be behind closed doors at E3.

Konami Buries The Lead At Press ConferenceThe main reason we go to the Konami press conference -- and we suspect this is true for many people -- is for Metal Gear. Of course, Konami does the smart thing and always saves any Metal Gear-related news and trailers until the end of the press conference -- a devious and ingenious plan that forces us to learn about all of the publisher's upcoming titles. On the plus side, these conferences used to be infamous for running several hours, but Konami has kept them short in recent years. Still that doesn't change our prediction: We'll have to hear about a new Rock Revolution or something equally boring before we get to see a short (but sweet) trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Rising.

New Resident Evil TeasedThe original Resident Evil 5 hit all the way back in March 2009 and the recently released Gold Edition closed the book on that entry. While some die-hard fans complained that the co-op experience lessened the scares, that didn’t stop RE 5 from becoming the biggest Resident Evil game of all time, with over five million copies sold as of March 2010. Combine that mountain of cash with recent Capcom duds like Dark Void and Bionic Commando, and it’s time to bring a proven IP back into the mix.

Ghost Recon Future Gameplay ShownGhost Recon Future Soldier may have recently been delayed until 2011, but we’re betting that, when Ubisoft shows the game off at its press conference this year, it will ditch live action teaser trailers for real gameplay footage. Expect Ubisoft to show off some of the high-tech gadgets that help Ghost Recon stand out from other military shooters, while describing a “world on the brink of destruction” storyline that’s as generic as can be.

Insomniac Talks Resistance 3Insomniac just announced that it would be developing multi-platform games published by EA Partners. This is clearly a blow for Sony, which has relied on Insomniac’s know-how and technology as one of the cornerstones of its first-party software lineup. However, this doesn’t represent an end to the long-term relationship between Insomniac and Sony. We expect to see Insomniac onstage at the Sony press conference, debuting Resistance 3, the next chapter in their PS3 exclusive FPS saga. This seems like a no-brainer, as it serves the dual purpose of demonstrating that the Sony/Insomniac partnership remains strong and showcasing another triple-A exclusive title for PlayStation 3.